{"product_id":"9781467002363","title":"The Crescent","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis novel covers the period from 1980 to 1990 with the outbreak of the first Gulf War.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIt is based on true and anecdotal stories from the author and ex-pats including a large Irish contingent who worked in Saudi Arabia.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe story is built around a mythical hospital, ‘The Masalamah Hospital’, based in Jeddah. Masalamah in Arabic means goodbye. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe majority of characters are based on real people but names have been changed to protect the guilty.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe story revolves around the central character \u003cb\u003eSteve Lessinger, \u003c\/b\u003ethe new Administrator who arrives full of resolve to make this hospital the finest in Saudi, however did not allow for the depredations of the Saudis themselves. Through a series of adventures and mishaps both humorous and horrific which gradually wear him down.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHe forms a friendship with \u003cb\u003ePaddy McDowell, \u003c\/b\u003ethe dowty Hospital engineer from Dublin who is involved in the illicit manufacture of alcohol. A fire breaks out in his department with complications of the Saudi fire brigade.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHis problems include \u003cb\u003eFelicity Duncan Smith, \u003c\/b\u003ea sister who provides sexual services to the Arab upper class. One of his staff, \u003cb\u003eRanjit Singh, \u003c\/b\u003eassistant pharmacist becomes involved with a Saudi princess.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eErich Von Schweitzer \u003c\/b\u003eis the chief pathologist whose love of cats lands him in a Saudi jail, involving Steve. His wife visits him and proves to be more than a handful for the Saudi authorities.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOne of his staff, \u003cb\u003eHerbie Offenbarker, \u003c\/b\u003eChief biomedical engineer, discovers desert diamonds and assumes he will make a fortune.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSteve’s problems are complicated by \u003cb\u003eTom McNab, \u003c\/b\u003ea male nurse who escaped from pregnant problems in Scotland. He has an affair in the female quarters of the hospital and dies ‘in flagrento’. \u003cb\u003eFraser Fraser, \u003c\/b\u003eScots Chief surgeon and bosom pal of Paddy solves the problem.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePrince Ahlan Washlan \u003c\/b\u003eimports and distributes alcohol throughout the kingdom, supplies the hospital staff but has problems with the competing princes. \u003cb\u003eTim Crawford and Jack Mitchell, \u003c\/b\u003eemployees have been arrested for the distribution of alcohol and sentenced to 15 years.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eElmer Garlinski, \u003c\/b\u003ea Saudi airline engineer and friend of Steve and Paddy, has an ongoing battle with the Muttawah, the religious police.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSteve has to deal with the problem of mass arrest of staff at Christmas for drinking illegal alcohol. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFinally it all proves too much. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"AuthorHouse","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47135453479152,"sku":"9781467002363","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781467002363_p0.jpg?v=1763689493","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781467002363","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}